Eye of the Dracos ec-3

by Ian. J. Smethurst

  “I’m sure they can sergeant, are they prisoners?” He asked eyeing the bound and sitting Dracos warriors suspiciously.

  “Yes sir. They surrendered during the battle.”

  As they were speaking Nikolai emerged with a wounded Kathryn, she hobbled on her injured leg, now tightly wrapped in bandages also, towards her former captain, whom she hadn’t seen in almost four long years. Michael strolled over towards her, and they embraced each other closely, tears began to run down the inside of Kathryn’s breathing apparatus as she clung to him. She was finally free of the nightmare she had endured, she sobbed as she remembered all those who had died horribly down there, and the ordeal she had been put through, her body trembled with emotion.

  “It’s all right Kathryn, you’re safe now.”

  “Just get me out of here Michael, get me off this horrible world.” Then she seemed to stop in mid-sentence, “no, I have one last task to accomplish, I have to bury a true hero, one who fought and died to save me; I owe him that at least.”

  “We can return as soon as the medics have taken a look at you,” Michael quickly realised she was badly traumatised by what she had witnessed down in the dark corridors of that place.

  Michael turned his attention to Nikolai, “any survivors down there?”

  “None comrade,” my men are bringing the bodies up now, he shook his head solemnly, “it’s like a slaughterhouse down there.”

  Michael managed to carry the badly injured Kathryn into his shuttle, despite her objections, “Michael we can’t just leave them down there?”

  “We are not going to Kathryn, we have to transfer the bodies to the ships in orbit, so they can have a proper burial.”

  She noticeably calmed after hearing this, slumping exhausted into the co-pilot’s chair, and resting her leg gingerly. Michael studied her for a moment, she looked tired, drawn, he guessed after three days of going through what she had just gone through, anybody would be.

  He wanted to ask her, if she would consider re-joining the Liberty crew, but decided against it. Right now Kathryn wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind, instead he would silently watch over her, but at the same time give her the space she needed to get over these recent events.

  The remainder of the commandoes were to be transported on a separate shuttle, save two who would travel with the Dracos prisoners as an escort, while they were being transported to the Eisenhower’s brig until Michael could contact E.D. F command, who could advise on what to do with them.

  That left the last remaining shuttle to transfer the bodies to the E.D. F ships waiting in orbit, of the sixteen scientists and guards that were stranded on that god forsaken planet. Only Kathryn had survived, not to mention another nine commandoes who died in the rescue attempt, twenty six lives lost, plus whatever casualties the Liberty had sustained; it had proven to be a dark day for the E.D.F.

  The gravitic engines thrummed into life again, kicking up another great whirl of dust, just as Michael’s wrist comm. chirped, it was commander Ruiz. “Once we’ve got all this straightened out, I’ll see you back at the ship.”

  “Yeah, no problem, it will be a little while before the Liberty is space worthy again, the old girl has taken quite a beating.”

  “Fantastic, I’ll see you soon. I look forward to catching up on old times.”

  “Me too commander,” Michael said before ending the transmission with a press of a red stop key on his wrist communicator.

  The shuttle gently lifted off as Michael increased thrust to the boosters, with a loud roar the craft raced skywards.

  Nikolai and the surviving commandoes all filed into the second craft, piloted by Maddox. Who decided that he would hang back slightly from the prisoner shuttle, keeping his forward mounted gatling laser trained upon it. If those prisoners did attempt to gain control of the craft, he would blast the thing out of the sky.

  Fortunately, the return trip wasn’t as eventful as Ben thought it might be, they returned to the awaiting Eisenhower and Arizona without incident.

  The Dracos prisoners were quickly escorted under armed guard to the Eisenhower’s brig, they were strangely quiet and subdued, not making a single move or effort to break free.

  Kathryn benefited from the Eisenhower’s larger, moderately more advanced, and well stocked med-lab, a female officer perused the injured leg. The razor sharp wire from the Dracos silencer had sawn its way through her flesh, sliced her calf muscle virtually in half, severed her achilles tendon, and even scored a deep gouge into the bone itself.

  The young medical officer stepped quietly out of the med-bay and made her way towards a waiting Michael, who was watching over her from an on-looking waiting room.

  “She’ll need surgery, the damage is extensive. If we don’t operate she may never be able to walk on that foot again.”

  “Do what you must,” Michael replied gravely, he cared about her a great deal, remembering the time when he rescued her from Delta base during the Krenaran war, just a young nineteen year old ensign, barely out of medical school and out of her mind with fear. He watched as she had to endure the personal torture of operating on wounded and sometimes dead friends during the war, a part of him felt responsible in that too.

  The medical officer nodded gently, and as quietly as she left, re-entered the sterile room, a team of six other surgeons gradually surrounded Kathryn, he watched as they administered an anaesthetic, and the still relatively young medical officer slowly fell into unconsciousness.

  Michael felt himself wince as a tiny laser cutter made the first incision, the fold of skin around her blood soaked wound, peeled back in two halves, just like the skin of an over-ripened fruit, exposing the delicate damaged muscle tissue underneath. A suction pipe was used to clear away the excess blood, precious minutes ticked by as Michael watched the operation being performed, occasionally he would look away, the pain almost too much to bear.

  He remembered Kathryn having to perform harder, more complex operations than this throughout the war. Often on her friends and people she really cared about under intense pressure. For the first time he truly experienced what she must have felt, no wonder she quit the medical profession in the end, Michael doubted that he would be able to stomach it for long either.

  A small injection of protonase was injected directly into the back of her shin bone to promote bone growth and slowly re-grow the damaged parts of bone. One of the surgeons held a small sonic oscillator over the muscle tissue. It gave off a gentle thrumming noise as the tiny waves of sound worked to relax the damaged muscle tissue. Minute microscopic implants were carefully inserted around this severed tissue, working to repair the damage, as well as emit tiny, controlled bursts of electricity into the surrounding muscle fibres. It would feel very much like the sensation of pins and needles. These would cause muscle spasms, the constant contracting and relaxing of the calf muscle would help to speed up its re-growth. It was a technique only recently come into practice within the medical profession, called micro-static therapy.

  Michael continued to watch the surgeons at work, both in awe and wincing as he imagined the pain Kathryn must be going through.

  The severed achilles tendon was an altogether different prospect, if the surgeons could not repair the damage, Kathryn would never be able to walk with that foot again. This would require a previously experimental technique in medical science, known as servo-assistance. It involved placing a pair of tiny servos, no bigger than a pinhead, and attaching them to the tendon via degradable sutures. The servo would assist the severed tendon to move the foot, though the servo would pull ever so slightly harder on the tendon each time, in order to aid in its natural re-growth.

  Michael watched as the surgeons performed the most delicate and complex of all the operations, one that had never even been attempted before. The concentration and dedication lining each and every one of their faces was plain to see. In a way, he wished he was in there with them, yet he was a ship captain, medical techniques were not his forte. He could fly
a ship halfway around the galaxy, yet this tiny operation was beyond him, he felt the whole experience humbling.

  Nikolai eventually found his way inside the viewing booth to join him, “how is she doing comrade?”

  “The operation is almost over, the techniques used, the way they work, it’s incredible to watch.”

  “I know, one of ours; Razor, is having an augmented hand attached on the Arizona.”

  “I’m sorry about the losses you took Nikolai, I know the men in your unit are close to you.”

  “It goes with the territory, every single commando knows the risk when he enlists, they have no regrets.”

  “So what will happen now?”

  “Well,” Nikolai gave off a gentle sigh, “once we are all finished here, it will be off to Alpha-centauri for de-briefing.” The Russian gave off a deep growl of a yawn, “But, I’ll tell you something comrade. I never want to have to come up against those Dracos again. They give me the creeps, can come out of absolutely anywhere, and are so well trained, so fast and acrobatic. You could be patrolling happily one second, and you’ve just lost a squad member the next. As night fighters, I don’t think I’ve ever seen better.”

  “Let’s just hope we don’t have to fight them again.”

  The surgeons had finished their work on Kathryn’s leg, and wheeled her bed around to a small side ward for her to recuperate.

  “Kathryn belongs with you comrade, with the Liberty, where you can keep watch over her, and take care of her when she falls down. She needs you, and you need her.”

  Michael knew within himself that Nikolai was right, for five long years, ever since his wife and son had died, the caring side of him, the tender side, had died along with them. People had suffered because of that, people like Kathryn. “I know Nikolai, in the time she has been gone, I’ve come to realise that.” Michael looked out across the med-bay to the small side ward in which she was sleeping, “the question is; has she?”

  “Give her time, she’s been through a heck of an ordeal.”

  “I intend to.”

  The group of six surgeons all entered the booth and faced the two men. One of them, a middle aged man, still wearing his surgical scrubs said. “The operation has been a success, she will have to be very careful over the next few weeks; if she aggravates the wound even a little, she could tear out the sutures securing the servo’s to her tendon, and would need a further operation to re-attach them.”

  “When can we expect her to be back at full health doctor?” Michael asked.

  “I would say with this type of injury, not for another six weeks. Then she would have to come for a check up before she returns to active duty.”

  “Thanks.”

  “She’s currently sleeping off the effects of the anaesthetic, and should be awake again in a couple of hours. She’ll be a little sore, and the twinges from the micro-static implants will take some getting used to; but she should make a full recovery.”

  “Thanks for all you have done, doctor.”

  “Just doing our job captain,” the surgeon replied, before he and his entourage of medics left the two men alone again.

  “Now to find out just what to do with our captured Dracos friends,” Michael said with a smile as he turned to leave the booth.

  “You have a plan, don’t you?”

  “I always have a plan, Nikolai.”

  “That’s what worries me.”

  Michael made his way through the thirty four decks of the Eisenhower, to the tiny hatch that connected it to the Liberty which floated alongside.

  After a few minutes of walking through his old ship again, he stepped out onto the battered command deck of the Liberty once more.

  “Hello there stranger, just where the bloody hell ‘ave you been, I thought I would ‘ave to promote me’self as new cap’n while you were gone, so I was.” Kinraid said with a mocking wink.

  “You know where I’ve been Quinn,” Michael smiled at his first officer. “If you need me, I’ll be in my quarters, I have some important business I must attend to.”

  “Understood, sir. Logameier’s been making temporary repairs, he tinks we should be able to make the jump into plasma drive soon, without fallin’ to bits.”

  “Good work, we may need to.”

  He stepped through the doors and into his quarters, it was a mess from various objects fallen from tables and shelves during the battle, now lying broken on the floor. Luckily the food synthesiser was still intact, with a sigh, he keyed in the control for a latte, double sugar. Taking the cup, he slumped down at his desk. The deep beige colour of Auriga III was plainly visible through his window, a bereft backwater planet, god it even looked ugly from space, he thought. He hoped he would not have to set eyes on this fateful planet again.

  He needed to contact Admiral Montrose at alpha base and inform him of what had happened here, that the E.D. F had encountered a new hostile alien force in the Dracos, though first he had other ideas.

  Punching in a few controls on his personal terminal, he attempted to contact Solaria, eventually getting through to an official acting for the Solarian government.

  “I’d like to speak to ambassador Kerulithar please, it’s a matter of some urgency.”

  “I’m afraid no ambassador by that name exists.” The softly spoken echoic voiced Solarian replied.

  Michael’s brow furrowed in thought, that’s odd. “He must do, five years ago he was instrumental in the Solarian involvement in the Krenaran war, I have personally worked with him.”

  “You must mean governor Kerulithar of Celtris III, I’ll transfer you to his office.”

  Huh, governor now, Michael thought. Raising an eyebrow in the process, the plucky ambassador has done well for himself over the years.”

  Gradually the familiar blue tinged face of Kerulithar appeared on the screen, “Michael Alexander my old friend. This is a surprise, how are you doing, and how are Nikolai and the Liberty?”

  “We are good actually, the Liberty has had a few more upgrades since last we spoke, you have done well for yourself, a governor now I hear.”

  “After the events surrounding the Solarian entry into the Krenaran war, and our subsequent victory over them, they made me a governor of my home planet of Celtris III, no more hopping around the galaxy for me, I have a family now.”

  “That’s fantastic news!” Michael said with a genuine smile, he was delighted things were going so well for his old friend, “but hold the phone with that galaxy hopping thing, would you?”

  Kerulithar’s brows furrowed as he suddenly took on a far more serious tone, “what’s on your mind?”

  “Know anything about the Dracos?” Michael rubbed his chin as he asked the question.

  “Sure; all Solarians know the story of the Dracos, how their evil and murderous ways threatened to almost overthrow our people, and how in response we chased them through our space, it was a terrible time; very sad.”

  “Okay, have you heard about their return?”

  “I heard rumours of their name being bandied about again in the senate, rumours of trouble in the distant Auriga system, our government has taken a strict non-interference policy on this if I’m correct. Our people do not want to get involved, the gulf of differing philosophies, ideologies, everything about the Dracos runs contrary to our own beliefs. They are a people who actively condone violence and torture as a way of life, where we advocate peace, harmony and advancement through art and the sciences. The Dracos turned from that path a long time ago; and in so doing, stopped being Solarians, they are regarded as their own people now.”

  Michael was stunned at hearing this, shocked at how two races, who had once been one, could turn out to hate each other so vehemently, where was the higher sensibilities of the Solarians now? “There is an old Earth adage Kerulithar, that time heals all wounds.”

  “What do you mean, my friend?”

  “I have four Dracos warriors, all taken prisoner while we rescued what was left of our science team.”


  “So it is true, it is not just a rumour, the Dracos do still exist!” Kerulithar gasped.

  “Oh yes, they have just killed a good two hundred and fifty E.O.C. A citizens, however this presents us with a unique opportunity.”

  “For what, exactly?”

  “Re-unification, to right a three hundred year old wrong.”

  “Too much time has elapsed my friend, there is too much hatred on both sides now,” Kerulithar sighed, shaking his head.

  “I’m asking you to be that plucky little ambassador I once knew five years ago Kerulithar, one last time, for your own, and for your peoples benefit.”

  The Solarian stared through the monitor at him, and it seemed as though long seconds passed between them, “if this goes wrong, it could mean my political career.”

  “Or it could be the making of it, all I’m asking is for you to trust me once again, as you once did, old friend.”

  “I worked with you once before, and that turned out to be the greatest case of my ambassadorial career. I will work with you again, but I make no promises.”

  Michael was buoyed that he managed to get Kerulithar on-board with this, “I will arrange for talks to be held at a neutral site.”

  “Excellent, once the location has been transmitted, I will be there.

  “Thank you, Kerulithar.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, I am only doing this because I trust you Michael Alexander,” the Solarian smiled, “Kerulithar out.”

  The screen went blank, and Michael slumped back down into his chair, he felt elated, but also exhausted. He rubbed at his temples, and let loose a long sigh, it had been hard work. Nevertheless, the first steps toward a peace process and re-unification had begun. He just hoped all this would not land him with a court martial for interfering in the affairs of other cultures.

  Next he had to contact admiral Montrose at Alpha base, to submit his mission report, he informed the admiral about the discovery of the Eye of the Dracos, the destruction of the Copernicus, and of the evidence they had found of the systematic hunting down of the scientists through the corridors of the alien facility, and also of the bloody, yet successful rescue of the only survivor, Kathryn Jacobs.